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Juno award winner for solo effort in the Roots & Traditional Category
The consistent quality of work produced over Stephen Fearing’s two decades plus career has earned him a West Coast Music Award for Best Folk Music Recording and five Juno Award nominations as a solo artist and a faithful international fan base.
2 Year Anniversary
w/ Brooke Miller
recipient of the 2007 OCFF
Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award
Her debut CD You Can See Everything is awash in mind blowing brilliance. Hailing from Prince Edward Island on Canada’s Atlantic coast, the lush organic landscape of her birth land bleeds through every track on the album.
I can't think of anyone else we would dream of having here for this evening. If you can make it, please come and join us.
"It is a safe bet we will be hearing a hell of a lot more of her in the coming months and get in on a good thing."
- Halifax Herald
"her ear for melody, thought provoking lyrics and guitar work belie her years...I'm sure she will join the ranks of some of Canada's best singer-songwriters."
- Penguin Eggs Magazine
EMI Recording Artist
WIL
Back in the day, musicians had to work for their supper. They hit the road because performing music was once more important than recording it. Immediately reminiscent of Ryan Adams, with maybe a bit of Hayden, Wil's electro-accoustic approach to his guitar is striking and his clear booming voice impressive.
"This is country the indie set doesn’t have to shy away from" - Chart Attack
Eve Goldberg
Imagine a kitchen party where Mother Maybelle Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Mississippi John Hurt, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Patsy Cline show up, and you begin to get a sense of what it feels like inside songwriter Eve Goldberg's head. Never one to restrict herself to one genre of music, Eve has performed her trademark mixture of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, old time, and jazz in venues ranging from small house concerts to the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC since 1990.
Rose Cousins
Nominated for two East Coast Music Awards
Nominated best solo artist Canadain Folk Music Awards
Rose Cousins has a knack for stirring the heart. A weave of her journey and thoughtful observation, her songs tell subtle stories open enough to belong to anyone. With expressive arrangements, warm guitar and effortless vocals, one would hardly believe she's on stage alone.
It's no wonder Cousins is the object of audience affection....
- The Boston Globe
She entered 2007 with two impressive East Coast Music Award nominations for SOCAN Songwriter of the Year and CBC Galaxie Rising Star Recording of the Year.
w/ Don Brownrigg
Music with spirit. Music akin to roots, folk, blues, and country. Music that is sincere in its growth and production, and heartfelt in its delivery. Don Brownrigg creates music that blurs accustomed genres and lyrical limits and hints on his diverse musical tastes.
Yael Wand
True to her divergent roots and wanderings, Yael Wand delivers songs with the sensibility of folk and allusions to jazz, all set in the landscape of a wild country.
Her classical vocal training and 17 years of live performance make her a powerful performer. She draws in an audience with the sound of her voice, clear and passionate, and captivates with the colour and substance of her songwriting.
With an acoustic guitar and a powerful voice, Yael Wand performed original songs that reminded me just how good it feels to hear live music.
-The Ubysee, March 8, 2002
Ken Whiteley
Six Time Juno Award Nominee
Ken Whiteley is one of Canada’s finest musical statesman. He has worked with blues and folk legends from Pete Seeger to Lonnie Johnson. He has been called a “playing encyclopedia” for his depth and range of styles, covering everything from blues and gospel to children’s music. Whether performing solo or playing with any of his large circle of musical friends, as one critic has said, “with Ken Whiteley our enjoyment is virtually assured.”
Blues, gospel, swing and folk created with “deep knowledge, infectious passion and virtuoso musicianship”.
-R.Reid/Kitchener Waterloo Record
Bob Snider
a national treasure, a folk hero and one of Canada's best songwriters
"Who is Bob Snider?" I asked him. He didn't know. "Regarding music, or the words part of songwriting", he says. "I seem to have a twist in my brain that associates words. In rhyming and in other ways. I know this goes way back so I guess you could call it a knack. If I can take any credit for it, it's just that I've always enjoyed playing with this knack If one can take credit for enjoying something."
"When Bob Snider picks up his classical guitar and starts to sing, it's a pure and powerful expression"
-Mike Beggs/EYE Magazine
Don Ross w/
Peter Kroll-Ploeger
One of today's true innovators of guitar composition and technique, Don Ross has emerged as one of the most respected musicians in Canada and one of the top guitarists in the world.
Ross is a self-taught guitarist whose music borrows from rock, jazz, folk and classical music creating a style that he describes as "heavy wood". In the liner notes to Ross' 2003 album Robot Monster, Bruce Cockburn writes "Nobody does what Don Ross does with an acoustic guitar. He takes the corners so fast you think he's going to roll, but he never loses control."
and all the way from germany
Peter Kroll-Ploeger will engage audiences with everything from ballads to stomping grooves in all kinds of tunings. Story-telling and "painting pictures in peoples head" are unique features of his concert stylings.
Alun Piggins
and the
Dogeaters Skiffle Group
... Alun Piggins is a local singer/songwriter - and a damn'good one - who has managed to keep his musical career going for years without ever really joining the business...
- Toronto Sun
... Piggins seems to have listened to all the great pop/rock tunes over the years and has somehow managed to distill the magic ingredients into just the right blend...
- Blues on Stage
Stephen Stanley & Carla MacNeil
Stephen Stanley is a founding member of Canadian rock band The Lowest of the Low. They broke out on the Toronto rock scene in 1991 with independently produced and recorded Shakespeare My Butt; a record which has since become a staple of discerning music fans' libraries and been dubbed one of the greatest Canadian records of all time by Chart Magazine.
Ken Hamm
Juno Award Winner
Traditional Roots and Blues Music
Ken Hamm is one of Canada's foremost interpreters of traditional roots and blues music. Since 1978, when he began touring solo, Hamm has won a wide following for his stellar guitar work, as well as for his original songwriting.
Along the way Hamm was awarded a Juno for Best Roots & Traditional CD. Also, Ken has been nominated for Recording of the Year and several times for Best Acoustic Act of the Year by the Toronto Blues Society. Hamm has also been nominated three years running as Best Acoustic Blues Guitarist by North America's "Guitar Player" magazine.
Michael Pickett
Juno Nominee
Award Winning Recording Artist
Acoustic Roots
Accompanied only by his guitar, rack harmonica and sensual expression, Michael Pickett is a performer who has stripped away the frills, to arrive at a place that belongs entirely to him.
"I had a vision that he was gonna be one of the best. In my book he is."
- Hubert Sumlin
"One of the finest harmonica players of all time."
- Lee Oskar
“Tonight he was cast perfectly in the role of the sage, right down to his road-worn and incredibly resonant hollow-body guitar."
- Live Music Report
DAVID CELIA w/ Joan Besen
"David Celia is to the Toronto music scene what Ron Sexsmith was ten years ago; a talented singer-songwriter who has everything he needs (great musicianship, a beautiful voice and good songs)"
-The Torontoist
"David Celia is one of the best talents to hit Merseyside from North America. He's welcome at the Cavern Club anytime..."
-Cavern Club, Liverpool
"One of Toronto's finest songwriter's and guitarists"
-Eye Weekly
Rick Fines
One of Canada's leading blues, roots music and slide guitarists.
Rick won the Maple Blues Award for Acoustic Act Of The Year twice (98, 99) and was nominated this year for the fourth time for MapleBlues Songwriter of the Year. His work with Jackson Delta (for 15 years) brought nominations from both the Juno and the Handy Awards. He has played for legendary blues piano player Pinetop Perkins, songstress Colleen Peterson, folk icon Penny Lang and many others.
The Lazy Devils
The Lazy Devils Gypsy Jazz and Western Swing trio. The Lazy Devils came together in the winter of 2003 when brothers Ryan and Sam Weber (current members of Ronnie Hawkins band The Hawks) found themselves living in the small town of Buckhorn, ON, just down the road from Flapjack front man Jay Edmunds.
Since then The Lazy Devils have been performing the music of Django Reinhart, Bob Wills, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Fats Waller. Inspired by The Hot Club of Cowtown, this swing trio of fiddle, guitar and upright bass, and stellar three part harmonies have been entertaining audiences all over Ontario.
Dave Bidini
Best-Selling Author and Musician
Hopefully you came on out and found out why you need to read one of Mr. Bidini's fine books (he has five), watch one of his films (he has two), or listen to his songs (he has several on the Rheostatics 12 albums!).